


Aftermath: Akuze

by KainichivonDiamond



Category: Mass Effect
Genre: Earthborn (Mass Effect), Pre-Mass Effect 1, Sole Survivor (Mass Effect)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-30
Updated: 2016-01-30
Packaged: 2018-05-17 04:14:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,049
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5853766
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KainichivonDiamond/pseuds/KainichivonDiamond
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>She could still hear the screams, could still smell the smoke from discarded thermal clips, despite it being three months since she’d last seen action.</p>
<p>A short fic about Shepard dealing with the initial aftermath of losing her unit on Akuze</p>
            </blockquote>





	Aftermath: Akuze

She could still hear the screams, could still smell the smoke from discarded thermal clips, despite it being three months since she’d last seen action. When she touched her wrist she could still remember the feeling of Richardson’s hand wrapped around it before it went limp and she was forced to run without him. When her feet touched the floor it was like she could still feel the vibrations that signaled one of those bastards were going to surface again. Her skin still itched where it’d been splattered with her unit’s blood. The wound on her back from where a ricocheted bullet had hit, though healed and scarred over, still ached if she ever took a second to think about it.

She remembered so much from the mission, but not how she got to the landing pad. She couldn’t remember and really, she supposed, it didn’t matter. She was here now, on board a small Alliance ship carting her to wherever they were sending her to jump through yet more hoops to prove she hadn’t gone cat6. Part of her would acknowledge that she was probably permanently fucked up, but she was still a marine. Nothing was worse than the idea of letting her career end on her failing to save anyone but herself. She was still able, still strong, she could still do humanity a lot of good.

He was instantly recognizable as soon as he stepped through the door. Captain David Anderson, hero of the First Contact War. The man they held up as an example of what humanity should strive for; the person fresh faced recruits whispered about in the same breath as Jon Grissom. She’d only seen him once before outside of vids and pictures on the extranet; a small speech he’d given to her graduating class from Basic. She’d still been an arrogant kid then, still being shaped by military life, and hadn’t thought much of him. Now, though, being alone in a room with him it was hard to deny that he had a presence about him, an air that had her standing and saluting out of more than just protocol.

“At ease, soldier.” He dismissed the gesture and she fell into parade’s rest, arms folded behind her back. He seemed to study her for a moment before pointing to the table she’d just been sitting at, taking the seat across from hers. He placed a tablet on the table; she could see her name, upside down, at the top of the orange screen with scrolling text beneath it. “Lt-Commander—no, it’s Commander Shepard now, isn’t it?”

The title made her skin itch and the scar on her back ache; the formality of a promotion in the wake of what had happened. A title a marine could proudly retire on. “So I’ve been told, Captain.” She slotted her fingers together as she rested her hands on the table, preparing for the same questions she’d been asked a thousand times in the past few months while trying to figure out why David Anderson of all people was here. Her eyes caught the word ‘Akuze’ in the scrolling text on his data pad. Was what happened big enough to attract even his attention? Over forty marines dead.

“Not a bad job for a street kid from Earth. N7 graduate to boot.” He was looking at the data pad, not her, but she could see that his eyes weren’t scanning the text. He knew that coming in; he’d been prepared. “They tell me you’ve been pushing to return to active duty. Most would say we’ve gotten our money’s worth from you after Skyllian and now Akuze.” He looked up then, meeting her eyes. She resisted the urge to straighten her back.

“Most would say the same about you, sir, after the First Contact War.” She challenged back, testing her limits. This wasn’t a normal psych eval or questioning; he was after something. “And yet here you are.”

His mouth twitched like he was about to smile. “Here I am.” He set the tablet aside, seeming to abandon the pretense. This was getting more and more interesting. “Tell me, soldier, why do you want to go back to duty? Not what you tell the doctors or your CO. Why do you want to be a marine? Like shooting things? Out to spill some alien blood? Pay and benefits too good?”

She almost snorted at the pay part. The Alliance paid decent enough but not enough to justify service. What credits she had to her name were mostly from not having anything to spend on. Living on ships tended to have all your basic needs met while not leaving you a lot of time or space for hobbies. And while she did like shooting things, she was good at it, that wasn’t why she was here. What resentment towards nonhumans she’d had before service had likewise been left by the wayside years ago.

“I’m a marine because I’m good at it. Because I know I’m more useful in the field than anywhere else. I’m strong, I’m smart, and I’m resourceful. That’s not boasting, it’s true.” She answered honestly, pulling her hands closer to herself as she continued to meet his eye. “My unit died and I will never forget that. Hell, it’ll probably haunt me my whole life. But if I let that stop me from doing my job, from doing what I’m good at? Then I died along with them.”

Anderson did smile at that, a small curve of the mouth, and nodded. “Okay.” He grabbed the tablet again and tapped on it a few times. “You are officially cleared for duty, Shepard, free to request station on any ship or colony you so choose.”

Well that was…not what she was expecting.

“Just like that?” her tone was suspicious and she wished she had her omnitool to confirm that she was cleared. And free to request station? She didn’t even know where to request. Not a colony, certainly, she was done with those for the time being.

“Just like that.” He stood and she followed suit, saluting once again. He waved away the gesture. “Though, while you’re considering where to put in your request, I’d suggest the Normandy. Its crew could use soldiers such as yourself.”


End file.
